Lawful Interception

As a legally sanctioned official access to private communications, Lawful Interception (LI) is a security process in which a service provider or network operator collects and provides law enforcement officials with intercepted communications of private individuals or organizations.

LI implementation is required by the European Union International User Requirements 19951 which allows for LI to prevent crime, including fraud and terrorism.

The ETSI specifications are now in use globally in a large number of countries that require the Lawful Interception of telecommunications, and well as the Retained Data (RD) functionality.

At the core of a ALL IP current and future networks is the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) which provides an access independent platform for a variety of access technologies. IMS is being developed in 3GPPs Service and System Aspects Group, with the handover interface for lawful interception being developed in TC LI.

TC LI activities include work on Retained Data (RD) and the committee published specifications on requirements and on the Retained Data Handover Interface.

TC LI regularly updates its suite of standards by adding needed functionalities to the LI and RD specifications.

In recent years work has been extended to ensure strong collaboration with our group working on Cybersecurity, and that the LI and RD functions are performed in the context of cloud services, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC).